Sign Up for Our Cancer Care and Prevention Newsletter

Thanks for signing up!

During a colonoscopy, my doctor said he found cancerous polyps. He said he took them out and told me that he got them all. Do I have to worry about these coming back? What would cause them to recur? Is there any way for me to tell if they come back, beyond getting another colonoscopy?

Many varieties of polyps can be found during colonoscopy. There are four types of non-neoplastic, or noncancerous, polyps: hyperplastic polyps, mucosal polyps, submucosal polyps, and inflammatory pseudopolyps. These polyps do not have the potential to become cancerous.

Another group of polyps are known as adenomatous polyps, of which there are three types: tubular, villous, and tubulovillous polyps. These do have the potential to become colon cancer, and the risk is further increased if there are atypical cells — also called dysplasia. When a polyp has cancerous features and is small enough, it can be removed during colonoscopy. And as long as the margins (the adjoining tissues) are free of cancer, a patient who has had these types of polyps removed won't need to have a repeat colonoscopy for five years. In answer to your final question, there is no more reliable way to tell whether your polyps have come back than to have periodic colonoscopies.

The reasons polyps develop are not clear, though there may be a genetic propensity for certain types of polyps to develop in certain people. In general, you can help reduce the chance that your polyps will come back by consuming a healthy, low-fat diet, maintaining your weight, and avoiding smoking and alcohol. Some research suggests that dietary supplementation with calcium carbonate can also help in reducing the risk of polyp recurrence.

Last Updated: 4/22/2009

Colon cancer expert Dr. Saeed Sadeghi is a staff physician and an assistant clinical professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

Advertising Notice

This Site and third parties who place advertisements on this Site may collect and use information about
your visits to this Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of
interest to you. If you would like to obtain more information about these advertising practices and to make
choices about online behavioral advertising, please click here.